


In This Together: On the Road

by joudama



Series: In This Together [6]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-08
Updated: 2011-03-08
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joudama/pseuds/joudama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not just me/We're a stubborn pair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In This Together: On the Road

**Author's Note:**

> More teenage!Angeal and Gen. I had to do it Also, when the hell did these two become the pairing I write the most?! I kind of hate Genesis. *stomps on the Cockroach of ShinRa* XD;;;
> 
> Also, god have mercy on my soul, I kind of want to keep GOING with this. I have ideas, and ones I can't shoehorn into Puppyverse. D: (my free time! ...ahem.)
> 
> Song Prompt: Soler - 惹我 [Je Ngo - Provoke Me]/堅持 [Jian1 chi2 - Insistence] (both)

When he was awake, Genesis had to be the most insanely _pretty_ person that Angeal had ever met--the first time he'd actually seen Genesis, and he remembered that day pretty clearly, he'd, peeping from around his mother's skirt and not knowing if Gen was a boy or a girl or even thinking about it one way or the other, more or less done a little kid's version of love at first sight because he'd never seen anyone so pretty. And Gen still was absolutely, stunningly _beautiful_ \--if that was even the right word for a guy who could, would, and if not able then at least willing to try to, kick his ass from here to Sunday and back again if Angeal was stupid enough to ever say something like that where said guy could hear him--when he was awake.

When he was asleep, well, Angeal pretty much had a hard time keeping a straight face whenever he looked at him. Genesis sprawled for one--sprawled into an ungangly, uncoordinated tangle of legs, arms, and hair. Even when they were kids, if they shared a bed Angeal would usually wake up with Gen's hair in his mouth somehow and a limb of some sort on him. Gen didn't snore, thank goodness, but...but he _drooled_ \--his mouth would squish open on one side where it was against the pillow--or Angeal--and in the morning either Gen'd have dried drool on his face or drool that was still a tad...fresh. And when he woke up, he could never quite get his right eye to open fully, not for a good three or four or ten minutes, giving him a sort of lopsided appearance. Gen would wake up and just blink blankly at things for a while, usually with a somewhat sullen look because there was a _sun_ out there, and that sun clearly hated him, and the feeling was more than mutual.

Genesis was not a morning person. In point of fact, he seemed to find the sheer existence of 'morning' to be a personal affront.

This was why Genesis in the morning was a thing of terror. Aside from the drool, and the eyelid thing, and the fact that his powers of speech were pretty much reduced to "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh," his hair tended to be as lopsided as the pillow made his face, and so full of tangles he'd be cursing his hairbrush for a good ten minutes. He was slouchy, baggy-eyed, grouchy, and was in general something the monsters they were running into all the time would run away from.

It was kind of cute, though, especially the way he'd rub at his right eye as if trying to open it and how that only made it gum up more at first.

And Angeal knew better than to ever say 'cute' aloud when Gen was in earshot, _especially_ in the morning. For one thing, Gen was pretty vain already, since almost everyone made a big thing out of how good-looking Genesis was--Angeal figured Gen spent more time in front of the mirror every morning than most women did, fussing with his hair. The last thing that needed was to be fed in some way.

For another thing, Genesis would probably start backing up and looking for whatever had hit Angeal with a Confuse, since it just wasn't in Angeal to start complimenting people out of the blue. Angeal had the weird feeling that since he'd never actually made that big a deal out of how stupidly pretty Genesis was, or let on that he thought it--the starry-eyedness over how pretty Gen was had well and truly died the day Gen started to eat a worm to shut Aeolus up then opened his mouth and showed the half-eaten worm to everyone as some bizarre form of _proof_ ; all it had proved to Angeal was that Gen needed someone to keep him from doing stupid things--Genesis wouldn't quite know what to do at getting it from him. He never had been able to really handle the rare compliment Angeal would give him, like for his piano playing, and would get flustered and blow it off. Genesis tended to need all the stability he could get, and Angeal doing things that were 'weird' freaked him out unnecessarily.

And it would especially weird him out _now_ , since in the week they had been traveling, Gen had been propositioned about three or four times, and was starting to get _twitchy_.

He'd thought Gen buying himself that Fire materia at the first shop they found was a _very_ bad idea, but when that one guy who had offered to _pay_ Angeal for Gen ran off screaming with his eyebrows burnt off, Angeal had to admit that one, the guy had deserved it, two, Gen definitely had an affinity for fire because it took some skill to control it that well, and three, the guy was probably in better shape than he _would_ have been, because Angeal had been about to beat the guy's face in.

He'd still confiscated the materia.

"...what're you staring at?" Genesis managed slowly, the words at least grammatically correct, even if highly mumbled. His left eye was fixed on Angeal in a glare, and the right, well, was still half-gummed shut. And his lower lip was poking out.

Angeal felt his lips twist up in a smile before he could stop himself. Gen really wasn't very pretty in the mornings, but he sure was _cute_. "You look like shit in the mornings."

"Fuck you, too," Genesis said with a scowl, and that only served to make the smile on Angeal's face turn into a full-fledged grin, because it wasn't helping. "Sorry not all of us look picture-frickin'-perfect like _you_ manage in the morning. Asshole." That just made Angeal laugh, because Genesis was, right then, failing completely at trying to look or sound like anything other than an adorably grumpy five-year-old.

...And that had sounded like a _compliment_ of sorts, but before what Gen had said really sank in, Gen's pillow came flying out and pegged Angeal in the face. And Angeal rolled with it, literally, falling over backwards back onto his bed at the inn exaggeratedly, and then twitching and making fake dying noises.

That worked pretty well; Genesis let out a surprised snort of laughter that turned into a real, rare, honest-to-goodness _laugh_ when Angeal twitched melodramatically, and so another day on the road began.

\--

It drove Genesis absolutely _nuts_ , the way everyone called Angeal 'sir.' Whenever they stopped at an inn, the innkeeper inevitably looked at Angeal and directed all the business questions to him. Everyone else could be staring at Genesis, but the shopkeepers and innkeepers took one look at how Angeal was _bigger_ and immediately assumed he was the one in charge. It wasn't fucking fair, either, especially now that Angeal was the one paying for stuff half the time, from the bounties and gil from monsters they killed on the way for practice, so now Genesis only _sometimes_ got to shoot dirty looks at the innkeepers before pointedly pulling out the money to prove that _he_ was the one whose ass they needed to be kissing.

It wasn't fair, and it was worse because Genesis could see why they did it. He didn't like to admit it even to himself, but knew he'd probably assume the same thing. He was sixteen and scrawny, even if everyone said just give it a few years and he'd be taller than anyone with his build, compared to fifteen and a half that could easily pass for older, and a build that made Angeal look like he could already be in the military with all the muscle he had from work he had done most of his life for extra money and sometimes just to help out in the orchards and around town. He was a head taller than Genesis--for _now_ , Genesis thought grumpily--and looked like he could snap Genesis in half with his pinky. And on top of all that, Angeal just _radiated_ calm responsibility. He was only fifteen but was obviously already a man.

It just wasn't _fair_.

\--

Leaving had already done Genesis a world of good. They had decided to take their time getting to Midgar, going by foot where they could to get practice fighting monsters. It would only take an extra month or two, three if they took the scenic route, and they both figured it was worth it, since they'd be a lot stronger when they got to Midgar to enlist. And in the three weeks they had been traveling now, they'd both gotten a lot better.

Angeal was almost afraid at how quickly Genesis was mastering his Fire materia, and how he'd started to talk about wanting to find a Firaga. Angeal didn't think Gen had the strength yet for it, but had the feeling by the time they reached Midgar, he very well might have the magical stores to do it, as much as he was improving.

But it was in Gen's demeanor that the most change had come. It was like a weight had been lifted off of him. He smiled a lot more than he had, laughed a little easier. He was starting to lose the weird _look_ that had sometimes been more in his eyes than anything else, like he was holding on by his fingernails. He was calmer, too, and that was always a good thing. Gen...Gen had been pretty scary for a while. It made an unsettling kind of fear start batting at Angeal, thinking about how close Gen had seemed to finally snapping. Maybe Gen even had snapped a little, the night he climbed in through Angeal's window with a bruised and bloodied arm and in an almost feral kind of rage.

Gen had seemed, well, a little better after he had decided he was _going_. It had almost sounded, that night after Gen got himself back together some, like he had planned on just taking off the next day on his own, and there was no way Angeal would have let him, not when Gen was like _that_ \--not the half-crazed he'd been, but the _brittle_ way he'd been when he said he was leaving. It was like Gen was on a precipice of some sort, and there was just no way he could let Gen throw himself off that cliff, not if there was the tiniest chance that he could help.

In his sleep, Genesis buried his face in Angeal's leg and mumbled something incoherent. And Angeal kept watch, both on the horizon to make sure no monsters would come and on Gen drooling on his leg.

He laughed a little to himself, and patted Gen's head. And even in his sleep, Gen turned towards his hand, starved and demanding as ever for touch and attention, and no...Angeal wouldn't let him go off that cliff. Not alone.

\--

"You stupid fucking idiot!" Angeal yelled, and Genesis just glared.

"What are you yelling for? We killed it, didn't we?" Genesis said, feeling himself getting angry. He preferred angry, a lot, over the shaking fear and panic of just a few moments before. They hadn't been strong enough to fight that monster, and it had been sheer dumb luck that they won--if the monster hadn't missed when it had, they'd have been pretty much dead. As it was it was a near thing; they were out of potions and ethers and too exhausted to cast Cure.

But Angeal _wasn't_ too tired to yell apparently, and Genesis knew he _deserved_ it, he knew it, but honestly, couldn't Angeal cut him some slack? No, instead Angeal was in his face, actually yelling so much he was literally red in the face.

And Genesis was yelling back, because fuck, he wasn't just going to let Angeal make him feel like shit. It wasn't his fault, by the gods; they didn't have Libra so just he hadn't _known_ how strong that thing had been.

So he was yelling, Angeal was yelling, and then suddenly...suddenly Angeal was _hugging_ him. Genesis went stiff at first from the sheer surprise of it, and then it was like all his energy was just _gone_ and his head dropped against Angeal's shoulder. Both of them were shaking, but it was OK. It was OK now. They were still alive. They'd won, it was _OK_. He shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around Angeal and clutched at Angeal's shirt then sagged against him, letting Angeal take his weight.

"I thought you were gonna _die_. I thought _we_ were gonna die," Angeal said, his voice jagged.

 _I'm sorry_ , Genesis thought, hugging Angeal tighter to keep from shaking more, but the words never came out.

Besides, it didn't really feel like he needed to say it anyway.

\--

"What're you writing?" Genesis finally asked, and Angeal smiled to himself. Gen had been peeping over from the bed he was sprawled out on now that they had finally found a town and an inn. He'd been technically reading, but it was more like he was fidgeting than anything else, and would look over at Angeal impatiently every once in a while. And Angeal just kept on writing.

"A letter to my mom," he answered. "Letting her know how we're doing. I'm sure she's worried."

"Oh. Tell her I said hi," Genesis said. "And that I won't let any monsters eat her pwecious widdle boy," he ended with a wicked smile.

Angeal was glad he had extra paper; he tended to need it to ball up and throw at Genesis' head.

"...How the fuck did you hit me from there?" Genesis grumbled.

"Years of practice."

Genesis snickered at that, then rolled his eyes.

And Angeal decided he might as well _try_. "There's lots of paper and we're in town. Maybe you should drop your parents a note. Just to let them know you're OK."

As always, it was a bad idea to bring up Genesis' family, but Hel's realm, he _had_ to try.

Genesis just scowled into his book. "I'm sure they don't care. And I _know_ my dad doesn't want to hear from me." All of a sudden, Genesis looked up and _smiled_ , and _that_ was _not_ good. "Not after what I told him before we left."

Angeal blinked, and then thought back to the day they left, and... _uh oh_.

"...Genesis, what did you say to your father?" Angeal said, a sinking feeling in his stomach because that grin, that was the not-boding-well grin.

That grin widening didn't help the sinking feeling. In fact, it made things _worse_.

"I just told him he was right, that I was sucking your dick. And that I'd let you fuck me up the ass over the piano the day before."

"You told him WHAT?!" Angeal yelped, the pen dropping out of his hand and his jaw dropping along with it. He could feel the blood draining out of his face, because oh _gods_ , that _would_ explain the look on Mr. Rhapsodos' face, and...and...and that piano thing had been _Genesis_ ' idea, not his, and...and ok, yeah, it had been hot and all, but...oh Hel's realm, if his _mom_ found out... "You _didn't_."

Genesis' grin got bigger and more disturbing, and Angeal knew that he _had_.

\--

The only one who'd ever really been any good at getting him to laugh--honestly _laugh_ \--was Angeal, and Genesis had no idea how he did it.

Angeal was as serious as they came--so serious that Genesis had once heard Angeal's own mother chide him and say he was "eight going on eighty-eight." And he pretty much had been then and still was now; the only people who liked to lecture more were the old grannies at the shops and their teachers. But he was still the only person that could make Genesis actually laugh out loud.

It always caught Genesis by surprise when it happened. He did laugh at things, of course, although it was usually at other people, not with them. But the only person to say things so out-and-out _funny_ \--and almost never at anyone's expense save Angeal's own was the wonder--that Genesis would have to cover his mouth was Angeal. He couldn't figure out what it was that made what came out of Angeal's mouth so funny, but he kind of wondered if it might be because Angeal was the only person who had never _tried_ to get a reaction out of him, never tried to get something out it. Or maybe it was that Angeal was so understated and serious that the things that came out of his mouth just seemed extra hilarious. So Genesis would be laughing his head off and Angeal would have a little grin and maybe a chuckle that was more at Genesis' reaction than anything else, and anyone else around just looked puzzled over what had set Genesis off like that.

Genesis wasn't used to laughing out loud; no one really laughed in his house growing up, and Genesis had always kept himself slightly separate from everyone aside from when he had some use for them, and he'd learned a long time ago how effective a little smile of distant amusement could be if timed right--how people would bend over backwards almost to do what he wanted.

But Angeal was different somehow. That had never worked on Angeal--the few times he'd tried Angeal would roll his eyes or give him a funny look and then cuff him or put him in a headlock and tell him to cut it out--and more than that, Genesis didn't really _want_ it to. It was kind of nice, in a weird way, that Angeal saw through it. He didn't have to be fake around him.

Genesis had no idea how it was Angeal managed to put him in the position he was in now, one hand braced against a tree for support and laughing so hard his stomach _hurt_ and there were tears in his eyes.

But all in all, it didn't bear too much thinking about, because it was a pretty nice place to be.

\--

They could see Midgar from a distance, had been able to for a while, and it was getting close.

Genesis looked more and more excited the closer they got, and Angeal felt kind of excited too...but some part of him almost felt sad that they were almost there. If they'd pressed through the night, they probably could have gotten there by the time dawn came, but when Angeal suggested they make camp and leave out early the next morning, Genesis had agreed.

It almost made him wonder if maybe Genesis wanted to hang back a little, too.

So they'd made camp and eaten and talked about how close they were, and eventually everything fell into a comfortable silence where they hadn't had to say much of anything at all to each other.

Night had fallen but Gen was still awake, reading _Loveless_ , the only book he'd been able to bring with them. Things had been too busy most days for him to read, and there was enough light with the campfire and the lantern they had picked up early in on the trip.

Angeal stared at the fire, his head on Gen's lap and Gen's hand in his hair; Gen's voice reading aloud soft and comforting. He could feel himself drifting off to sleep and didn't fight it.

They'd get to Midgar tomorrow, and see what their future held.

\--


End file.
